


Princes, Witches, and Love

by TrinityRain



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Royalty, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29765304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrinityRain/pseuds/TrinityRain
Summary: this is the fic i wrote for the absolutely wonderful ever after klance zine! it comes with beautiful art by jemaherin on tumblr!!
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52





	Princes, Witches, and Love

**Author's Note:**

> this is the fic i wrote for the absolutely wonderful ever after klance zine! it comes with beautiful art by jemaherin on tumblr!!

_Two people may be connected to each other with a magical bond called a soul bond. While rare, soulmates are perfectly normal and very special. If one has a soulmate, they should cherish their connection and try to strengthen their bond._

Lance was late. _Of course_ he was. His very first day as the Royal Witch and he was running to the castle 30 minutes late and with a half eaten piece of bread in his mouth, his robe disheveled and falling off his shoulders. He was going to make _such_ a good first impression.

The townspeople of Daibazaal turned their heads as the blue blur that was Lance passed them by. The streets were bustling with vendors and playing children, all obstacles on Lance's way to the castle. He narrowly missed a man rolling his cart down the street and had to swerve to avoid crashing into a fruit stand. Lance managed to sprint through the castle gate and go up the stairs without any altercation. Unfortunately, the same could not be said once he reached the courtyard.

There was a small group of knights sparring, or whatever it was that knights did, in the center of the courtyard and Lance smacked straight into one of them, toppling them both down onto some bales of hay. Lance groaned. _That_ was going to bruise.

"Watch where you're going!" A voice called out from somewhere under him. "And get off!" Lance felt something push him up in the air, then landed back down on the ground with a thunk.

"I'm sorry," he said, "no need to manhandle me." Lance stood up and brushed stray pieces of hay off of his robe, turning to frown at the knight he had knocked over. "I am precious cargo. You need to be careful with me."

The knight huffed. "I'll be careful when you are." He crossed his arms. "And you don't look like precious cargo to me."

"Excuse me? I am much more precious than you are, tin man." Lance crossed his arms back.

The knight shook his head and took his helmet off, revealing long black hair and striking violet eyes. He looked back up at Lance and Lance's blood went cold. He recognized that face. It was Prince Keith. Lance knocked over the _prince_ as he was late to his first day of work at the castle. He really _was_ making a good first impression.

"Who are you calling tin man, clumsy?" Keith said.

Lance stood his ground. "You, obviously," he adjusted his satchel and turned to the castle entrance. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for work."

Lance left the prince standing in the courtyard and walked inside, Keith watching after him. What a perfect start to the day.

~*~

_Soul bonds may be hard to identify at first. Soulmates could meet and have no idea that they are connected. The only clue one has to know that they have a soulmate is their soulmark. Soulmarks appear on one's wrist displaying the words their soulmate says the moment they fall in love with them._

“Ah, Keith!”

Keith walked into the throne room, now out of his armor and in a simple red tunic. His hair was up in a ponytail and his crown was looped around his belt, softly hitting his thigh as he walked. His father, the king, was standing in front of the throne with a man in a blue cape, beckoning him over to them.

“Keith, I would like you to meet Lance, our new Royal Witch,” the king said.

Keith turned to look at the man and was surprised to see a familiar face: it was the guy that knocked into him earlier that morning. “Uh, hi, nice to meet you.” He extended his hand.

Lance looked down at Keith’s hand and shook it reluctantly. “Nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

King Texas patted a hand on Lance’s back. “I’m sorry my wife couldn’t be here to welcome you. Queen Krolia is off doing what she does best, leading the knights and being a beautiful badass.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I hope Keith here is a good enough welcoming committee.” He turned to his son. “Keith, please show Lance around the castle and introduce him to the staff.”

Lance paled slightly. “Y-your Majesty, there’s no need. I can find my own way around, I wouldn’t want to bother the prince.”

King Texas laughed heartily. “It’s no bother, Lance! Keith would be happy to do it! And even if he wasn’t, it’s his duty as prince to do so anyway.” He patted both boys on the back.

A servant walked up to the king. “Your Majesty, Lord Alfor and Sirs Kolivan and Coran are ready in the meeting room.”

“Excellent,” the king grinned. “Well, boys, I must be off. Kingly duties and all that. It’s great to have you here, Lance!”

The boys watched the king leave in silence. “Uh, I guess we can start the tour here,” Keith said, motioning to the room around them. “This is the throne room, obviously. Public meetings are held here and also ceremonies, not much else. When not in official use, it’s really more of a lobby or foyer.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Very useful information, Your Highness.”

“Um, okay.” Keith said. He started to walk to the door, turning back to Lance to say “Follow me, then.”

They walked through the castle corridors, Keith pointing out different rooms and their purposes as Lance joked and made snarky comments. Keith didn’t understand why Lance butted heads with him so much, but he found it kind of fun to banter and bicker with him, even if he was confused.

“And here,” Keith said, opening the door and gesturing for Lance to go inside, “are the kitchens.”

As soon as they entered, Lance was swallowed by a big blur in an apron. “Lance!” Hunk, the new sous chef, wrapped him up in a big bear hug. Lance seemed completely unbothered by this fact.

“Uh, do you two know each other?” Keith asked once Hunk released Lance from his warm embrace.

Lance grinned. “Uh, yeah we do! Hunk is my best friend! We came to Daibazaal to work at the castle together. We both grew up in Terra and applied here at the same time. I still had some things to take care of back home, so he came here ahead of me.” He slung an arm around Hunk. “Big shot sous chef. Got anything for me to taste?” He asked eagerly.

Hunk laughed. “If anyone is a big shot, it’s you, Mr. Top-of-His-Class-Turned-Royal-Witch.” He smiled at Lance fondly. “But yes, of course I have food for you, _comelón_.”

Hunk turned to one of the counters and grabbed two freshly baked cupcakes, which he handed to Keith and Lance. “Chocolate raspberry. That’s Lance’s favorite, Your Highness. If he’s ever being moody, give him one of these and he will be significantly less annoying,” he teased.

“Hey!” Lance protested, swatting at Hunk and gobbling down his cupcake.

Keith chuckled. “Good to know.”

~*~

_Despite their spiritual connection, soulmates may take some time to fall in love. But once both soulmates are in love with each other, the extent of their bond starts to show._

Lance had never seen so many pillows in his life.

“This is your room,” Keith was saying, but Lance was not paying much attention due to the ridiculous amount of velvet pillows in the room. They were everywhere, the couch, the bed, the chairs.

“Lance?”

He looked up. “Huh?”

“I was asking where your luggage was,” Keith said, “and if you wanted to go get it to unpack.”

“Oh!” Lance said. “No, I have all of my stuff with me.”

Lance smiled at the confused look Keith shot at him and opened his satchel. He reached in, grabbed something, and gave it a big tug. Out of his bag came a trunk that grew larger as it got the space to expand. Lance opened it and snapped his fingers, the contents of the trunk floating out and organizing themselves in the room. Lance saw Keith’s bewildered face and his smile grew. He loved showing off his magic. “Ta-da! All done!”

“That,” Keith breathed, “was really cool.”

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Lance said, waving his hand and smiling. “All in a day’s work for a sorcerer, nothing special.”

“I think having magic is pretty special,” Keith said. “No one in my family has magic, nor does most of the staff. The only person I really know with magic is Allura.”

“Allura?” Lance asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

“She’s one of my best friends. She has pretty powerful magic, but she doesn’t use it that much. Her true passion is being a knight. Her dad wanted her to go to school for wizardry and become a magical scholar, work in the castle as an advisor like him, but she wanted to be knighted instead. She uses her magic when fighting sometimes, though.”

“She sounds really cool.”

“Yeah,” Keith smiled, “she is.”

They stood there in awkward silence, neither knowing what to do next. Lance started to get antsy. He didn’t like being quiet.

“So,” he started, “your family doesn’t have magic?”

“Nope,” Keith said, “never has. Both of my parents come from a long line of people without a single magic bone in their body. What about you? Anyone else in your family have magic?”

“Nah,” Lance responded, “I’m the only one out of all my siblings to display any. My parents don’t have any either, so it was a little hard for me when I first started out cause no one knew what to do. Luckily, Hunk’s moms, our next door neighbors, had magic. They taught me everything I needed to know before going off to school. My niece and nephew have magic, though! They’re still pretty young, so we don’t know how much or how powerful.”

“Huh,” Keith said, “that’s pretty cool. Does Hunk have magic, too?”

“Oh yeah! He has some minimal ability. He can do the basic things, like telekinesis with light items in his vicinity. He uses magic in his cooking a lot. His chicken noodle soup literally cures sore throats, it’s the best!” Lance beamed. “His cooking is so good on its own that it might as well be magical.”

Keith smiled. “The food has been really good since he started here. I can’t wait to experience more of it.”

“Oh, dude!” Lance said. “You are in for a treat! You _have_ to try his garlic bread, it’s the best thing in the entire world. If it came down to it, I’d give up my magic in exchange for his cooking.”

Keith laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Lance was going to tell Keith about all of Hunk’s delicious deserts when a knock came from the door. Lance opened it with a wave of his hand.

“Your Highness.” The servant bowed to Keith. “Sir Lance, the retiring Royal Witch would like to give you a tour of your workspace and instructions on how to fill his post. I am here to escort you to him.”

“Awesome!” Lance said, turning back to Keith. “I must bid you ado, Prince Mullet,” he said, bowing exaggeratedly, “thank you for the tour, Your Highness.”

He followed the servant out the door, leaving the prince behind for the second time that day.

~*~

_No one is quite sure how soulmates are made and why some people have them while most don’t. Much like magic, soulmates have been the source of much curiosity and debate_

“So,” Allura said, “what’s the new Royal Witch like? He’s been here for three days already and I still haven’t met him.”

She was sitting on the floor in Keith’s room, working on a bundle of fabric on her lap, which Keith assumed was a dress she was sewing for Romelle. He was sitting across from her, holding a pillow and fiddling with its tassels as Pidge spread their legs out on top of his lap.

“Well,” Keith said, “he’s a little annoying and he likes to bicker with me, but he’s nice and really laid back and he seems to be pretty powerful, too.”

“Is he cute?” Pidge asked, looking up from the small clock they were tinkering with.

“I don’t know,” Keith said, “I wasn’t really paying attention, I don’t really care.” But no amount of denial could hide the blush that dusted his cheeks.

“Oh, stop denying it, Keith,” Pidge said. “You know very well your gay ass notices whenever a hot guy joins the staff.”

“Shut up!” he grumbled, lightly slapping Pidge’s foot in retaliation.

“So?” Allura prompted. “ _Is_ he cute?”

Keith hugged the pillow and attempted to obscure his face with it. “I mean, I guess.”

Allura smiled. “Does our dear prince fancy the new guy?” she teased.

“No!” Keith said, frowning at her. “He’s annoying and he calls me names and he’s always squabbling with me. Plus, he says some really stupid things. Like when my dad sent me to get a water breathing potion from Lance, he said he wished he was a mermaid because he’s sick of wearing pants.”

“Oh, Keith,” Pidge said, shaking their head. “We all know you like morons. You’re literally bonded to one.”

“Oh shut up.” Keith hit them with the pillow. He looked down at his arm and moved the sleeve of his tunic so that his wrist was exposed, eyes reading over the words emblazoned on his skin. _Ice skates are knife shoes, Keith!_ Keith was supposed to fall in love with his soulmate when they said that. He didn’t get it. Why would those be the words that he fell in love with?

But despite thinking his soulmark was dumb, he loved it. He loved it because it meant someone would love _him_. No matter what happened or what he did, someone out there would love him. And Keith was glad because if it wasn’t for his soul bond, he would think no one would.

“I want to meet Lance.” Allura announced, tying off the seam she just finished and standing up.

“Like, right now?” Keith asked.

“Yes, now!” Allura smiled.

“Ooh!” Pidge stood up, “I wanna come, too!”

Keith sighed. “Okay. He should be in the potions room, I guess we can go visit him there.”

“Yay!” Allura clapped happily. She looped one arm around Keith’s and one around Pidge’s and led them out the door.

With the use of some shortcuts and hidden passageways, the trio arrived at the potions room not five minutes later.

Allura knocked on the open door and walked in. "Hello!" She said brightly.

Lance was stirring a cauldron of metallic blue liquid and talking to Hunk, who was cutting some root looking thing next to him. Lance looked up at them and smiled when his eyes landed on Keith.

“Hi!” He said, putting down his stirring spoon. “Good afternoon, Prince Mullet, Pidge, and,” he extended a hand to Allura, “I don’t think we’ve met.” Allura shook his hand and he placed a kiss on the back of her hand, grinning widely and wriggling his eyebrows. Allura laughed.

“Hi Pidge, hi Allura!” Hunk said, peeking his head from behind Lance.

“Hi Hunk! Whacha doin’?” Pidge asked, walking over to peer at the bubbling cauldron and inspect the strange root.

“Just making some sleeping draught for some of the maids. They’re having a bit of a hard time sleeping lately.” Lance said. “Hey,” he smacked Pidge’s hand away from the cauldron as they tried to bottle some of the draught. “No stealing, gremlin. I know you want to figure out the science behind magic, but that potion’s for the maids!”

Pidge grinned. “All right, all right.” They put their hands up in defeat. “I’ll steal some later when you’re not looking,” they mumbled under their breath.

Keith watched the exchange between the two unfold with his brows furrowed. “Wait,” he said, “you two have met already?” He looked at Pidge. They shrugged.

“Yeah!” Lance said, swinging an arm around Pidge’s shoulders and ruffling their hair. “Pidge and Hunk met when he first got here and they bonded over nerd stuff together. He introduced me to them the day I arrived. I didn’t know they were friends with the Prince!” He looked down at Pidge and ruffled their hair again.

“Hey,” they said, “no one asked me who I knew and who I was friends with.” They grinned slyly.

Keith shot a glare at them. “Anyway,” he said, turning back to Lance, “Lura wanted to meet you, so here we are. This is Allura, I told you about her during the tour.”

“Right!” Lance said. “The magic user who is a knight instead. You didn’t tell me she was also gorgeous.” He grinned at Allura again.

“Yeah, well,” Keith frowned, “don’t get too attached, Loverboy, she has a girlfriend.”

“Oh, well.” Lance sighed dramatically. “All the best ones are already taken. I wish you and your lover all the best, my lady.”

Allura laughed. “Thank you, Lance. I hope you find someone to direct your affections to soon.” She smiled slyly and looked at Keith.

“So, Allura,” Lance started, going back to the cauldron and finishing the sleeping draught, “how did you, the castle gremlin, and Prince Grumpypants become friends.”

“We all grew up here together. Pidge and Keith have been here since birth and I moved in when I was 15. My father, Lord Alfor of Altea, was appointed Royal Advisor so my family moved to Daibazaal.”

“Oh, wow,” Lance said. “So you’re My Lady, capital M, capital L, huh?”

Allura chuckled. “Yes, I am of a noble family. But it’s actually Dame. I was knighted.”

“Well, then, _Dame_ Allura. It’s an honor.” Lance smiled a toothy grin and bowed. “So I know why Keith has been here since birth, as he’s a prince and all. What about you, Pidgeon?”

“My dad was the Royal Astronomer before he retired and Adam took over. My brother Matt trained for knighthood with Shiro, so Keith and I always hung out when our brothers were busy together.” They snatched a piece of the root Hunk was cutting and hid it in their bag.

“Are you and your brother close?” Hunk asked.

“Oh yeah, regular peas in a pod,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, the Holt siblings went around the castle creating chaos and giving Shiro premature gray hairs.” Keith added. He laughed. “One time, Matt and Pidge decided to prank some nobles at dinner during this week long conference. You should’ve seen those old men jump when they found frogs in their robes.” He smiled fondly at the memory.

Pidge cackled. “That was one of our finer moments. Shiro tried scolding us, but he couldn’t do it cause he was laughing so much. We did have to do his chores for a week in exchange for him not ratting us out, though.”

Keith frowned. “Yeah, Shiro almost made me do his chores, too. If it wasn’t for the fact that Adam sat next to me the entire time and vouched for me, Shiro would have thought I was in on it!”

“Sorry, Keef. Sometimes, we gotta rope you into the punishment so that Shiro would be more lenient on us.” Pidge grinned. Keith flicked a cork from the table at them.

“Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun growing up together. Just like me and Hunk!” Lance said, holding his hand up for a high five, which Hunk gave him. “We got into all sorts of shenanigans. Ours were a touch more magical, though.”

“Yeah, like the time we made it rain inside the classroom so that school would get cancelled.” Hunk said, smiling fondly. “Good times.”

“And I’m sure we’ll all make plenty of good times together!” Lance said, looking around at all of them.

“Yeah,” Keith smiled. He’d like that, all of them being friends, expanding his tight knit group to add two more. He didn’t want to admit it, but he liked Lance. He looked at Lance’s grinning face as he talked to Allura and Pidge, showing them how he made the sleeping draught. Being friends could be fun.

~*~

_Despite so little being known about the origins of soulmates, Marmoran society has always been fascinated with them. Early Marmorans would hold festivals and rituals in honor of soulmates. Later scholars studied soul bonds and how the connection worked. There have been many books written on the topic._

Lance was walking around the castle delivering potions one Sunday afternoon, a month after he first arrived at Daibazaal. He had had a busy day of magically consulting with the Marmoran Council, reversing some unfortunate hexes that an illegal item had put on unsuspecting townspeople, and teaching healing spells to some young witches visiting from the Marmoran School of Magic. He was glad to have a more mindless task now.

“Hello? Mrs. Mueller?” Lance knocked on the door to Mrs. Mueller’s chambers and was met with a big smile from the cheery woman. Mrs. Mueller, a sprite old woman of 80 years, was the castle librarian and resident history buff. “I have your pain relieving potion.”

“Oh wonderful!” She gave Lance a big hug. “Do come in, dear boy, I’m in the middle of reorganizing my bookshelf.” She walked back over to the empty bookshelf and busied herself with the enormous stacks of books that were piled on the floor.

“That’s a lot of books,” Lance said. “No wonder your wrists hurt, handling all those heavy things.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. A good book and its contents are worth something as trivial as a little discomfort.” She picked up a book, read the cover, and placed it on another pile.

Lance chuckled. “Can’t argue with that. Just make sure that you take two drops of the potion with your tea every day.”

“Yes, thank you, Lance. You are an angel!” She beamed at him.

“Just doing my job.” Lance smiled. “Could I help you organize?”

She clapped her hands. “That would be wonderful, my dear!” She grabbed his arm and led him to the tallest stack of books. “These are all unsorted, if you could help me get them in the correct piles, that would be lovely.”

He got to work, picking up a book, inspecting it, and sorting it into its corresponding pile. Mrs. Mueller had books on a wide range of topics. She had books about wildlife, about magic, about the history of books themselves. She even had a few books about--

“Soulmates,” Lance said, flashing the book at Mrs. Mueller.

“Ah yes,” she smiled warmly, “my favorites. I have quite a few books about them, and even more in the castle library. They’re a wonderful thing, soulmates. And very fascinating.” She stared at the book in Lance’s hand and her eyes trailed down to his wrist. Her eyes lit up.

“You!” she exclaimed, “my dear boy, you have a soul bond!” She walked over to him and took his arm, staring at his wrist in excitement.

Lance laughed, warmed by the enthusiasm of the old woman. “Yes, I do.”

“Lance, you are very lucky.” She smiled up at him. “You must cherish this bond with all your heart. May I ask, have you found your mate yet?”

Lance smiled sadly. “No, not yet.” He brightened up. “But I can’t wait to!”

“That’s the spirit, my dear!” The old woman hopped back up. “Well, I think you’ve helped me well enough. You best get back to your magic and potions and whatnot. Keep an eye out for anyone special.” She winked.

Lance walked out the door and down the hallway, travelling back to his potions room. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Mrs. Mueller said. He had to agree with her. Lance was _very_ lucky to have a soulmate. Ever since he was little, he had been fascinated with soul bonds. Lance was a hopeless romantic and the notion that someone out there was destined to love him made him giddy. He truly could not wait until he met his soulmate.

Unfortunately, the task seemed harder than he had hoped it would be. As much as he loved his soul mark for being proof of his soulmate’s existence, he also hated it. He hated it because it was so stupidly, infuriatingly vague. Just three stupidly, infuriatingly simple words. _Yeah, we do_. How was he supposed to find his soulmate with that? Ridiculous!

If it wasn’t for all the research Lance had done on soulmates, he would have been very discouraged. Thankfully, it turned out that when your soulmate verbalizes your soul mark and you fall in love with them, something inside you just _knows_. And Lance absolutely loved that.

Thinking about this, he entered the potions room with a smile and cleaned up for the day.

~*~

_Soulmates often complement each other in a yin and yang sort of way. Many of their attributes may be opposites of the other and make them work together well. For example, one may have magic while the other does not, while one is more observant than the other. Despite their differences, soulmates may find a lot in common, such as personality traits or preferences._

Keith was practicing his archery in the currently empty arena when Lance found him. He was in deep concentration, slinging arrows with practically perfect precision every time. It wasn’t until Lance said something that Keith noticed he was there.

“I bet I could do that.”

Keith turned around to look at the sorcerer. “Yeah? Have you ever tried?” He crossed his arms.

“Well, no, but I’m sure I’m still better than you.” Lance said. “My magic could beat your athleticism any day.”

Keith smiled. Everything was a competition with Lance. Ever since he joined the castle staff, Lance seemed to think of Keith as some sort of rival figure. Keith still did not understand why, but he found himself enjoying it more and more. It didn’t hurt that Lance was nice to look at.

“Okay,” he said, “let’s see, then.” He grabbed an arrow from his quiver and shot it at a target, the arrowhead burying itself dead center. Keith smirked at Lance. “Beat that.”

“Easy,” Lance said. With a swish of his hand, an arrow rose from Keith’s quiver and followed Lance to the next target. “I’ll get a bullseye, too, _and_ from farther away than you.” He stepped back, aimed the arrow at the target, and shot it forward with a flick of his hand. It landed in the center, just like Keith’s.

“Impressive,” Keith admitted, “but I can also do it from that far.” He shot another arrow, this time as far as Lance did, and got a bullseye.

“Okay,” Lance said, “then to up the difficulty, let’s do it with our eyes closed.”

They each chose a target, closed their eyes, and fired an arrow. When they opened their eyes to see that they both got bullseyes, Lance suggested they move on to moving targets. Then they moved on to multiple arrows at once. Then to combinations of the three. They kept this up for almost an hour before admitting to a stalemate.

“Okay, maybe we’re both good.” Lance said.

“ _Maybe_?” Keith asked. “I think it’s pretty obvious.”

Lance chuckled. “Okay, fine. We’re both very talented individuals.”

They walked over to the audience stands and sat down on the first level, Lance conjuring up two goblets of water from Keith had no idea where.

“You know,” Keith started, “there’s the summer solstice tournament coming up in a few weeks. Everyone has to compete in teams of two, with one knight and a magic user. Do you maybe wanna compete with me? Like, on the same team?”

Keith looked up to see a shocked expression on Lance’s face. _Shit_. Maybe Lance didn’t think they were bickering friends. Maybe he really thought of them as rivals. Maybe he didn’t like Keith at all, only Keith’s friends, and he was disgusted he’d ever ask to work together. _This was a mistake._ Lance was surely about to disagree.

But he didn’t. Instead, his face broke out in a grin and he patted Keith on the shoulder. “I’d love to, buddy!”

 _Buddy_. Lance had never called him that before. Keith had only ever heard Lance call Hunk buddy. Maybe Lance considered him a friend after all.

Keith smiled back. “Great! We’ll have to train together a lot so we work well at the tournament.”

“Sounds good!” Lance said. “Get ready to see more of me than you’d ever want, Mullet!”

Keith doubted that was possible.

~*~

_Soulmates are always romantic, even if their relationship doesn’t start out that way, and they always stay together. There have been no recorded cases of soulmates breaking up or losing their connection, making soul bonds very special and sought out for._

Lance was exhausted. He and Keith had just been training for hours, running around an obstacle course and trying to get in sync. They were looking pretty good, Lance thought. They’d better be, because the two of them had spent almost every free minute they had practicing.

Lance wiped the sweat off his brow with a rag. Keith was taking off his armor next to him, carefully placing it on the armor stand.

“So,” Lance started, “we’re looking great and I think we should celebrate by hanging out with the gang!”

Keith smiled. “Isn’t that what we always do? How is that a celebration?”

“Ah!” Lance exclaimed. “You see, Prince Mullet, it will be a celebration because we can get some delicious goodies from the kitchen, some blankets and pillows, and take it all out to the field behind the castle gardens. A picnic!” Lance beamed.

“Okay, a picnic it is. Sounds fun.” Keith’s stomach growled. “And goodies from the kitchen sound great. I’m starving.”

“Great!” Lance grinned. “But first, we need to get clean. All that training has us drenched in sweat and coated in dirt, which is _so_ not a good look.” He snapped his fingers and he and Keith were instantly clean and wearing a fresh change of clothes.

Keith looked down at his newly clean body in awe. “I will never get used to that.”

Lance’s grin widened. “Let us go find our friends, Your Highness.” He extended his arm theatrically to Keith, who laughed and took it.

Not 15 minutes later, they were sat on pillows and a picnic blanket, accompanied by Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Romelle, Shiro, Adam, and Matt. They had three whole baskets full of delicious pastries, sandwiches, and fruit. Pidge brought their dog, Rover, who was happily napping on their lap.

“This is wonderful!” Allura said. “Very good idea, Lance.”

“Thank you, my dear Allura.” He did a little bow, which was kind of awkward since he was sitting down. He opened one of the baskets and pulled out a sandwich to offer to Keith, who took it hungrily and immediately began scarfing it down.

The nine of them ate cheerfully, enjoying the summer sun and each other’s company. Lance and Hunk talked about their life back in Terra, their families and their childhood and all the things they missed. The conversation soon turned to shenanigans the Holt siblings got into and all the ways Shiro had to clean up after them (usually while trying to hold in laughter).

“So Shiro,” Lance started, turning to look at the older man who was laying on his husband’s lap as Adam ran his fingers through Shiro’s hair, “if you’re older than Keith, why is he the Crown Prince?”

Shiro smiled. “Ah, well, I joined the royal guard in my early twenties with Matt and I soon became a general. When Zarkon and his followers attempted to usurp the throne, I led a force against them. We won, but I lost my arm.” He lifted his prosthetic, showing Lance the intricate metalwork fused with magic that allowed him full use of his arm.

“And I got this wicked scar!” Matt chimed in, pointing at the scar on his cheek.

Shiro chuckled. “Yes, Matt, your scar is very cool,” he assured him. “Anyway, after a couple more years as a royal knight, I retired and decided to pass up my claim to the throne. I’ve had too much adventure for one lifetime.” He looked up at his husband’s face fondly. “I am quite happy just making royal appearances, helping to train knights, and being the Royal Astronomer’s househusband.”

Adam kissed Shiro’s forehead and smiled. “And what a great househusband you are.”

Lance smiled at the couple. He hoped to have that for himself one day.

He turned to Romelle, who was sitting between Allura’s legs, leaned back into her girlfriend while Allura’s arms were wrapped around her. “What about you, Romelle? I don’t know anything about your backstory.”

Romelle laughed. “Backstory? I like the sound of that. Nothing too interesting; my parents are from Altea, we traveled around a lot, and eventually settled down here.” She giggled as Allura pressed a kiss to the back of her neck.

Lance grinned. “How did you two meet?”

“I started working in the castle to pay for school and a certain knight kept showing up everywhere I went.” She smiled at Allura.

Allura shrugged. “What can I say? She caught my eye.”

Keith groaned. “More than caught your eye, she stole your heart! Allura would not shut up about her. It was always _‘The new maid is so cute,’ ‘She smiled at me today!’, ‘Guys, her name is Romelle. Isn’t that so pretty?’_ It only got worse when she started working with the seamstresses and was able to see Romelle more often.”

“It took her so long to ask her out. When she finally did, it became _‘I can’t believe I have the best girlfriend in the world’, ‘I am so lucky to have her’, ‘I just love her so much’_. Nonstop gushing.” Pidge crinkled their nose.

Allura grinned and hugged Romelle tighter. “I _do_ have the best girlfriend in the world, and I _am_ lucky to have her, and I really _do_ love her so much.” She kissed Romelle’s cheek as she laughed.

They kept talking until they ran out of food and played horseshoes until dark. Lance looked around at them all as they headed inside and smiled. He was very happy with his new life here in Daibazaal. He caught Keith’s eye and smiled. He really liked it here.

~*~

_The moment one falls in love with their soulmate is very special. When one's soulmate says the words on one's wrist, they will realize that they are in love. Then they will be flooded with feelings. Whether this rush is a product of falling in love, the soul bond, or both is unknown._

Keith walked through the castle corridors looking for Lance. He wasn’t in his room, nor the kitchens, nor the potions room. He was about to give up looking when he smacked straight into him.

“Ouch!” Lance said. “What is this, Your Grumpiness, payback for the day we met?” He laughed.

“I was looking for you.” Keith replied.

Lance raised his eyebrows. “For me?”

Keith blushed. “Yeah, I wanted to show you something. If you’re not busy, that is.”

“For you, Mullet, I’m always free! Also,” he added, “I finished work ten minutes ago.” Lance grinned. “What did you want to show me?”

“Remember a few days ago when you said you liked to stargaze back in Terra?” Keith asked.

Lance nodded.

“Well, there’s a place I like to go sometimes to stargaze and I thought you might want to check it out.” Keith averted his gaze. He didn’t know what would make him more nervous, Lance saying no or Lance saying yes and having to stargaze alone with him.

Lance’s eyes lit up. “That would be awesome, Keith!”

Keith looked up into Lance’s shining eyes and smiled. “Great! Follow me.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and led him through the castle, taking him to the tallest tower and showing him the old rope ladder he used to climb up onto the roof with.

Lance took one look at it and shook his head. “That looks way too old and unsafe. Allow me.”

He lifted his hand and pointed it at the ladder, which stretched and morphed into a small spiral staircase that led out the window and onto the roof. They walked up the steps to the roof, where Lance willed the stone bricks to shuffle and create a flat surface for them to sit on.

Lance looked up at the sky. “Wow,” he breathed, “it’s beautiful up here.”

Keith smiled as he took his place next to Lance. “I knew you’d like it.”

They sat there talking for a long while. Well, _Lance_ talked. Keith was mostly listening to him and admiring the view of him against a beautiful backdrop of twinkling stars. Lance was telling him about his family back home and their winter traditions. Keith was watching the way his eyes lit up and the way the corners of his mouth curled when he talked about it.

“And my older sister, Veronica, loves ice skating, so she taught my niece and nephew how to. It was terrifying. I was so afraid they’d cut themselves with the skates, or worse, me. The two of them are so little and they have an affinity for kicking people, so I was in legitimate danger. Ice skates are _knife shoes_ , Keith! Absolutely scary.”

It was stupid, and ramble-y, and ridiculous, and so very _Lance_. Keith looked at Lance’s face as he continued to talk and was flooded with such fondness for the man. Keith sighed. He loved him.

Oh.

_Oh._

_They’re knife shoes, Keith._ That’s what Lance had said. And Keith loved him for it. For everything that he was. Keith was consumed with love for this cupcake loving, stargazing, magic using idiot that just said the words he’d been staring at his whole life. He finally understood what was so wonderful about those words.

 _Wow._ Lance was his _soulmate_.

~*~

_Very often, it takes a while after one of the soulmates falls in love with the other for them to realize that they love them back. More often than not, the first to fall in love keeps it to themselves so that their other half may realize it organically._

It was finally the summer solstice and the festivities were in full swing. Lance had spent the day with his friends, checking out the food booths with Hunk, laughing at Keith when Pidge defeated him at chess, and helping Romelle and Allura pick out outfits for each other.

Now he was getting ready for the tournament in his and Keith’s tent, putting on armor and making sure his satchel, which was full of various potions, was tightly fastened across his body. The only rules of the tournament were no killing and no outside help, so Lance happily stocked up on potions and magical items. Who knew what would come in handy.

“Ready?” Keith walked in, armor already on and various sharp weapons around his waist. He looked every bit the warrior prince he was.

Lance smiled. “Absolutely! Let’s win this thing!”

They waited at the tent’s entrance for their names to be announced and were met with raucous cheers when they came out. Lance smiled and waved at the audience, enjoying the warm welcome, even if it was mostly for Keith, the beloved prince. He looked over to his side and saw Keith looking down at the ground.

“Hey,” Lance said, “you okay?” He raised his eyebrows and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Keith replied, looking up to meet Lance’s eyes. “I just don’t really like being in the spotlight.”

Lance smiled fondly. This talented knight, the Crown Prince of Marmora, had stage fright. It was endearing. “Hey, it’s alright! Just focus on the tournament. It’s just you and me against these wannabes.”

Keith smiled. “Yeah, okay.”

The tournament host called for all teams to stand ready in a circle around the arena, raised his hand high in the air, and brought it back down, signalling the fanfare horns to start the battle.

Immediately, the team closest to Keith and Lance lunged forward at them. Lance assumed they rightfully saw them as the biggest competition and were trying to take them out early on. The knight slashed his sword at Keith, who parried it and thrusted him backwards, going in for an attack. The magic user was left to Lance, who summoned a circle of fire around him, effectively trapping him, unable to help his teammate.

Lance whooped and rejoined Keith's side. They went on the defensive for a bit as many teams assumed the same thing as the first team did. They worked together perfectly, all those weeks of training paying off. When a witch flung a dagger at Lance’s back, Keith blocked it with his sword, and when a knight lunged at Keith with his mace, Lance extended his arm and magically lifted the weapon out of the knight’s hand. Lance was having the time of his life and looked over to see Keith smiling back at him.

Pretty soon, the number of teams dwindled down to five remaining. Lance flicked his wrist and one team found themselves unable to move, stuck like statues with only their eyes shifting around. Four remaining.

Keith and Lance were back to back, looking around at their opponents. Lance tapped Keith’s shoulder. “I have a secret weapon,” he said, grinning wildly.

Keith shot him a quizzical look. “What is it?”

Lance’s smile grew. “You’ll see. It’ll be great. Hop on.” He crouched down to let Keith get on his back, who hesitated but complied. _This is going to be awesome!_

Lance summoned a potion from his satchel, the glass vial floating up to his lips and tilting so that the golden liquid inside ran into his mouth. Lance swallowed the potion, a sweet and spicy flavor lingering on his tongue. He felt his body grow warm and his skin started to glow a bright white. The blinding blob that was Lance grew and morphed, the audience and other teams captivated by the sight before them.

A loud roar broke the silence and the white light flashed and dissipated, revealing Keith sitting on a 10 foot tall lion with no Lance in sight. As the crowd stood stunned, they slowly realized that the lion _was_ Lance.

 _This is amazing!_ Lance thought, laughing joyously, which came out as terrifying roars. He leapt forward and ran around the arena, swatting at opponents in his reach as Keith shot enchanted arrows at the ones farther away. Some of the magic users tried to reverse the effects of the potion, but the enchantment held. No one could undo the magic of the Royal Witch. The audience cheered loudly, enthused by their prince riding a giant lion to victory.

Lance stopped and let Keith off as the victory horns blew. Still able to use magic in his lion form, he summoned a counterpotion from his satchel, which was left on the ground where he had first transformed. He swallowed the serum and detransformed in the same way, with a blinding light and a warm sensation. Once the light faded, Lance was left standing in place of the lion, a huge grin on his face.

“I told you it would be great! I wasn’t _lion,_ ” he said to Keith, giving him a cheeky wink.

Keith tackled Lance in a hug, knocking the remaining air out of his lungs. “You did it! You were amazing!” He let Lance go and smiled at him, causing Lance to positively melt.

“No,” he said, “ _we_ did it. We make a good team.”

Keith smiled fondly. “Yeah, we do.”

It was too much for Lance. Keith in his well fitted armor, hair tousled, cheeks slightly flushed, smiling at Lance so fondly as he agrees that they make a good team. Lance was overtaken with emotion. He loved Keith. He really really did. This was exactly how he thought he'd feel when he met his soulmate.

_Wait._

_Soulmate._

Keith had just said those stupidly ambiguous words that Lance had been chasing after his entire life. Keith was his _soulmate_.

"Oh my god." Lance said, eyes wide. "It's you. You're my soulmate."

Keith's eyes went wide and then crinkled as he smiled. "Yeah," he said softly. "I am."

And Lance couldn't let another second pass without kissing him. So he did.

In front of the people of Marmora, the King, and the Queen, after winning the biggest tournament of the summer, Lance grabbed Prince Keith's face and kissed him like his life depended on it.

~*~

_Once soulmates are mutually in love, side effects of their bond will start to show up. At first, they will be sporadic and uncontrollable. The first most common ones include magic sharing, hearing each other’s thoughts, and speed healing when in each other’s presence._

After the kiss, which was met with even more cheers than their victory, Lance took Keith back to the castle and into his room. They sat cuddled up on the couch, talking about their newfound connection and how happy they were to have found each other. Eventually, still in each other's arms, they fell asleep right there.

The next morning, Keith awoke to birds chirping through the open window. He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at Lance to see him sleeping soundly, mouth slightly open with a small trail of drool dribbling out. It would be gross if Keith wasn’t so in love with him. Instead, it was endearing.

Thinking that he should bring Lance breakfast in bed--or couch--, Keith swung his legs over the couch to stand up. He didn’t reach the floor, which was odd because the couch wasn’t that tall. Keith looked down.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Keith yelled.

Lance woke with a start. “What? What happened?” He looked around wildly.

“Lance!” Keith said. “We’re floating! We are, like, seven feet from the ground!! Put us down!”

Lance frowned. “It’s not me! I’m not doing this!”

“Well,” Keith said, “it has to be someone! And since you are the only one here who can use magic, you are the logical culprit!” He swatted Lance’s shoulder. “Do something!”

“It really isn’t me!” Lance teleported them from the couch to the bed. “This is the best I can do, Keith. The couch floating is not my magic.”

Keith frowned. Was someone trying to prank them? Allura was the only one they knew with enough magic to use such powerful telekinesis, but she wasn’t one to prank them. At least, not like this and not now. Keith took a deep breath to steady himself. Getting all frantic was of no use to anyone.

Suddenly, the couch fell to the floor with a loud crash. Lance yelped.

“Okay, _what_ is going on?” Keith asked, moving his arms exasperatedly.

“Um, Keith?"

“Yeah?”

“You’re floating.”

“I’m what?”

“Floating.” Lance pointed at his legs.

Keith quirked an eyebrow and looked down. “AHHH!”

Keith was indeed floating. He was hovering a good five inches above the bed. He uncrossed his legs and reached for the bed, toppling him over and ending up on his stomach, still floating above the bed.

“How do I stop this?!” He asked, wobbling around in the air.

Lance looked at him helplessly. “Ummm, try calming down?”

Keith took a deep breath, then another, trying to steady his heartbeat. He continued this until he was no longer panicked. With a yelp, he landed back down on the bed unceremoniously.

Lance turned his head sideways and pressed it against the bed to be level with Keith. “You okay?” He asked.

Keith nodded.

“Good.” Lance helped Keith sit back up. “I think I know what’s happening. I think it has to do with our soul bond. I remember reading about side effects of the soul bond and magic sharing is one of them. I think you can use magic now because _I’m_ a magic user.”

Keith’s eyes grew wide. “I can use magic now?”

Lance nodded. “I think so. Wanna test it out?”

Keith thought this was crazy. Twenty four years of not having magic and now all of a sudden he was sharing the magic of the most powerful sorcerer he’s ever met because they’re _soulmates_? Absolutely crazy. But it made sense. “Yeah,” he said, “let’s test it.”

“Okay,” Lance said, crawling off the bed and standing up. “Let’s try a simple exercise I had to do when I was a kid still learning how to control my magic. Start with your palm out. Imagine a small flame and focus on it, staring at your open palm as you do so.”

Keith mimicked Lance, following his instructions. He thought of a lit candle, imagining the small flickering flame. He focused on that image, trying to muster up all the magic he had, which was hard because he didn’t even know what magic was supposed to feel like. But he kept going, trying as hard as he could to do what Lance said. Sure enough, a small, timid flame appeared in his hand, flickering softly as he stared at it with wide eyes.

“I did it!” Keith said. He stood there, staring at the flame. “Uh, how do I stop it?”

Lance laughed. “Just focus on making it go away. Think of turning off a tap, but with magic.”

Keith didn’t know where his magical tap was or how to close it. What did that even mean? “Yeah, I don’t know how to do that.”

Lance sighed and smiled softly. “It can be kinda hard when you’re starting out. Search your body for some sort of feeling you haven’t felt before. Try to find what it is that allowed you to conjure the flame. It should feel warm and deep, like a pool of power you can tap into at your will.”

Keith looked for the feeling Lance described, checking his fingers, his chest, his stomach. He searched the corners of his mind for this pool, growing frustrated as it continued to elude him. He was about to give up when he felt something foreign right in the back of his mind. He poked at it curiously and felt a warm feeling grow in the pit of his stomach in response. That must be it. He closed his eyes and concentrated on harnessing that feeling, focusing on getting rid of the flame.

“Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Open your eyes.”

Keith complied and looked down at his palm. The flame was gone. “It worked!”

Lance grinned. “Congrats, Mullet, you are now a magic user. Welcome to the club.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope y'all liked it! this is one of the longest fics i've written and one of my favorite ones, too. i may write a sequel/second chapter cause there's more to this story in my head. lemme know if that's something you guys would like. remember to leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed and check me out on [tumblr](https://queridaz.tumblr.com)!!


End file.
